


No More

by InesStarkDowney



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Not A Fix-It, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Tony Is Really Tired, Tony Stark Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 12:16:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10786581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InesStarkDowney/pseuds/InesStarkDowney
Summary: There's one more battle, and, like always, there's one more fight, because all they do is fight nowadays, but Tony isn't sure what they fight for anymore. There's nothing between them, like it used to. But Steve wants to fight and fight and he dares say it in the middle of it."I love you, Tony! Always have! Goddamnit, don't do this to me."Tony is done with fighting. Tony just wants to rest. So he just lies and tries to finally end it all."I don't love you."





	No More

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wanted to upload a completely different fic, one that is actually happy and healing with all the Avengers (multi-chapter even) but I came out from watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and it screamed everything The Avengers weren't: A family. So, being the bitter girl I am I decided to drown in agony.
> 
> But GOTG Vol. 2 was so worth it. I had the time of my life. Totally my favourite Marvel movie. 
> 
> Either way, I hope you enjoy it!

It happened after one more fight. There was always one more fight, and with Steve, there were other kinds of one more fight that would never end. They never ended, even after there being nothing between them. It didn't make sense anymore.

But Steve tried, Steve really tried to do whatever this was, and after more than one year after the war, he dared to say it in the middle of shouting. Tony was wounded, but this was a new kind of wounded. _I love you, Tony! Always have! Goddamnit, don't do this to me._ Tony wanted to laugh as much as he wanted to sob. But neither happened, and what came out, burned.

"I don't love you.", lies. Lies are what they were now. Both were expert liars, because Steve had lied to Tony and Tony was used to lying to himself. "I never have."

Tony swallowed a sun about to explode. It was burning, not bright as it should be, but burning to an end. This was to end it all. For once and for all, this had to end. Tony had to walk away and Steve had to let him do it.

Tony started to take off his body armour piece by piece; since it was so damaged it could not come out by itself. Tony didn't want to look at Steve. He was rejecting the only person he ever loved like this. He was rejecting Steve. Tony was crazy, but he wanted to be sane. He was doing this for his own sanity. No doctors could help him anymore. It was all up to Tony now.

Steve looked at Tony, chest hurting, tears about to fall, because it couldn't be real, Tony couldn't have said that just like that. Like it was a spit of words to end a fight as soon as possible. Steve tried to always hold it together, but now, now Steve walked up to Tony, hand stretched out, ready to hold on and beg him to take it back.

"N-No... Tony, don't lie to me, please. Not about this. This is not the time to-"

Tony turned abruptly, armour pieces still stuck on his body, but that didn't matter when Tony's brown eyes were a shade of dark that yelled danger. Blood boiled inside Tony's veins, and the part of him that wanted to take back the lie was silenced by the rage. It still lingered. It would always linger.

"Don't lie to you?! After you lied to me about the unthinkable, you dare say that to me?! I have every right to lie to your face and more!" Tony was up close to Steve, chests pressed together and Tony looking at Steve dead in the eyes. Steve stared, in silence, because he knew Tony was right. Tony was right. But just as Tony was there, breathing on him with all the hate and sorrow that clang to his skin, Tony was gone, three feet away, and Steve was cold. "However, this is not a lie."

"What happened back then couldn't have happened if we didn't - if we don't love each other."

Now Tony chuckled and took off the last pieces of armour. He wanted to throw them at Steve. It hurt too much. It all hurt too much. Couldn't they stop this already? Tony just wanted it to stop!

"Please, you don't love me. If you loved me, you wouldn't have done all of that. You wouldn't have fought when I begged to talk, to work it out. You wouldn't have let Rhodey fall and never walk again. You wouldn't have lied for two whole years about my parents, about my Mother. You wouldn't have left me there! Do you realize you did all of that to the person you claim you love?!"

"I can't change it! I want to! That's what I want most! I want to change how I went about it all! But I can't, Tony... I can't change it."

The screams stopped. Steve looked tired and Tony was tired. This wasn't going anywhere anymore. They stopped having a path together long ago. There was only one way now.

"Exactly, Steve. But no matter how much you want to change it, it happened and it's here every day for the rest of my life. You are just one more liar, Steve. Through all that you meant to me, what stuck is you being a liar." Steve tried to talk, he tried, but whatever came out wouldn't change anything. "I can't do this anymore, Steve. Us, whatever we are, it's nothing anymore. There hasn't been anything between us two for so long. We've been fighting for something we can't get back, because I can't do this anymore. It's too much, Steve."

Steve remained silent, looking at Tony with tears in his eyes. He finally understood that it was the end. It had to be the end. Maybe not for him, but for Tony, it had to happen.

"I see..."

Tony breathed, probably better than ever in the few last months, but he couldn't deny that something inside was fading, and it was fading fast. _It's us. Do this, and that will cease_. It was okay, though. It was okay, because Tony would rather stop hurting than feel it all. Tony knew how to compromise after all these years. And finally, Steve seemed to accept it.

Steve took a few steps closer to Tony and looked down at Tony's brown eyes. After all these years, it would end like this. Steve was broken in half, and he didn't feel like this since Peggy. He was always too late, after all.

"I... I should go, then."

"No. I will. I had been planning to leave for months; I guess the time has come to step back for good."

"But... But the Avengers are your family. You built this team, and they are all here because of you."

Tony shook his head and smiled at Steve. How long had it been since he smiled at Steve? It didn't feel natural anymore... It felt more like a memory he shouldn't touch anymore.

"Nonsense. They are here because of you. You keep this team together and on its feet. You are their leader and they are your family. I no longer fit here."

"Tony... Are you sure? Stay, please. I will go, but not you. You have Peter here and Vision... And... And the rest, they need you."

"Oh, please... Vision has his life and Wanda now. And Peter, I can mentor him from home and besides, I will visit him as much as I can. _Steve, I have to go_."

Steve tried to think of more reasons for Tony to stay, but the one he wanted to say, that one was what drove him away. _Stay, for me._ So Steve could only give up, when he never gave up on anything, he was giving up on Tony. No... He was letting him go, because he knew Tony was better without him. _You've hurt him. There's no way back_.

They were left in silence. There wasn't much to say anymore. This wasn’t a goodbye anymore. This was walking away, knowing it is the right thing to do. And without resistance, Steve stayed put while Tony walked away. Steve let the tears roll down, as soon as Tony turned his back. Steve let Tony go.

But Tony couldn’t leave just like that. Steve needed to know it wasn’t all in vain, all those years hadn’t been in vain, and yes, there had been something once. Not anymore, though.

"I did love you."

 _Always have, always will_ , but that was too cruel, so Tony finally left, just to cry over not regretting anything. Tony would never regret leaving Steve behind. It was finally over.

 

                                

_(So why did it hurt?)_


End file.
